Chapter Closing

We have put the house up for sale. Working with HUD and a friendly real-estate agent has been nice and fairly easy. For all of those that have never bought a home I would strongly encourage you to talk to your local HUD office and get in on some free classes. You may even qualify for down payment assistance and other similarly helpful things.

The end is drawing near for yet another chapter in our lives. Crystal and I moved here over 2 years ago in hopes of securing some of that American dream of home ownership and now we are moving on. I look at the quaint, cute home; the familiar features and get an immediate rush of emotions and memories. Here my children both came home and learned to smile, laugh, walk, and cry. I have to come to terms that this wasn?t meant as a permanent home and moving was inevitable. The sweat putting the place in order, repairing the various brokenness wasn?t in vain. Rather, these were necessary to make life bearable.

I am not sure where we will be next. Living on Kitsap Peninsula has its pluses and minuses. If you want a decent job you have to commute otherwise the pickings for a living wage are slim unless you dawn the shackles of the shipyards. Apart from a couple dilapidated bars in the areas surrounding the various military installations, there isn?t much culture or nightlife.

However, the rent and home prices are lower. The traffic is never unbearable. The scenery gorgeous. The ferry commute pleasant. We?ve decided that taking the ferry and bridge tolls out of our lives is a huge plus. Saving those extra hours on commuting would be well worth it if we could find an affordable place to live closer to work so we could indeed save up and eventually toss our lot at a piece of earth. The closer we consider living to my place of employment the more expensive things get. It makes sense: simple supply and demand. It is, however, outrageous.

Kenny, our worship leader, has quit taking his family with him. I don?t believe they are looking for a house of prayer and worship closer to their home. Just like the sand running out from the hourglass, so does the positions that fill a church. It has turned over and now I perform this task. I take this task seriously but with great humility. Right now I have little to work with but we will hopefully be able to add to our repertoire as time marches on.

I broke down and bought myself a pair of new headphones for my ?miniature electronic music playback device made popular by the company whose logo consists of a common fruit that had a bite taken from it?. I wanted something with superior sound quality and the ability to block out the sounds of inner city filth. The answer Denon ACH-751K ear buds. Initially I was a bit hesitant about sticking things in my ear but after some trial and error the sound is amazing. I had owned a cheap pair of Sony and the original [see above quote] ear phones that came with the device. Both had poor quality sound.

But I have yet to burn them in and get used to pushing things into my ear canals. I can?t get to excited about these because at this time they need frequent readjustment. However, with the new found clarity I have been enjoying music with more lyrical sophistication. When I was on the bus with my previous set, unless they were repeating the same phrase over and over or screaming it loudly I would rarely ever hear the lyrics without having to turn my music up excessively. I never did because a musician?s biggest assets are his ears and what quicker way to destroy your hearing than to blast music into your skull.

I am not playing any MMOs right now. I have been playing Day of Defeat: Source a lot. I admit, though, that I hunger for either something new or something different. I am considering firing up some Sims or other simple and easily accessible game. I would rather work on my music or play with the kids. It?s hard to come home 12 hours later and have the energy to do anything but vegetate.

I have had some limited success with making music at home and on the ferry. I have plenty to work with. Sure, a hardware synth might be easier to bust into inspiration, but my biggest problem is taking my classically trained mind out of the box and dumb it down, if you will, to the musical structure of today?s average music. When I write electronic music, it changes too often almost as if the Chopin within me is encouraging some sort of complex chord progressions and song structures.

This isn?t to say that average music of the now is simple. On the contrary; I hear plenty of songs that have complex song structure and theory behind it. Lyrics continue to confound me. I struggle to peep even a simple verse only to immediate fall into the common rhymes used by the most elementary of lullabies. It is only when I detach from my reserved and careful self that I come up with some truly interesting yet disturbing lyrics usually themed in the industrial or cyberpunk genres.

It has been an hour and my regurgitation of thoughts is coming to an end. My vessel, which had departed Bremerton an hour ago, is creeping to a stop in Seattle which means I will have to depart and start my day.

Last.fm

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